"Mention in the Book… he was a ṣiddīq, a prophet"
وَٱذْكُرْ فِى ٱلْكِتَٰبِ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ صِدِّيقًا نَّبِيًّا
wa-dhkur fī l-kitāb Ibrāhīma innahu kāna ṣiddīqan nabiyyan — And mention in the Book Abraham; indeed, he was an intensely truthful one, a prophet.
Two verses in sūrah 19 open with the same command to mention a named figure in the Book, followed by the identical description "he was a ṣiddīq, a prophet"; only the proper name differs, and each occurrence then leads into a different narrative continuation.
The verses 19:41 and 19:56 are identical in Arabic except for the accusative proper name: إِبْرَٰهِيمَ "Abraham" (19:41) and إِدْرِيسَ "Idris" (19:56). Both then carry the same clause: "indeed, he was a ṣiddīq, a prophet" — in our translation rendered "an intensely truthful one, a prophet" for Abraham and "a most-truthful one, a prophet" for Idris. The shared frame does two things in each case. First, it assigns both figures the same two descriptions, so the difference between them is carried entirely by the name, not by the predicate. Second, it marks each figure as the head of a new narrative unit: 19:41 introduces Abraham and is followed immediately by his address to his father, "why do you serve what does not hear, and does not see, and does not avail you in anything?" (19:42), while 19:56 introduces Idris and is followed by "And We raised him to an exalted standing-place" (19:57). The frame thus functions as a recurring transition within the sequence of figures in this sūrah: what follows the identical description diverges — dialogue with a father in one case, being raised by God in the other. The preceding context also differs: 19:40 closes the previous unit with "to Us they are returned", while 19:55 ends the preceding figure's description with "he was, with his Lord, one approved".
Where it occurs
- 19:41 Introduces Abraham with the shared description "an intensely truthful one, a prophet", opening the narrative unit that continues with his words to his father in 19:42.
- 19:56 Introduces Idris with the same description "a most-truthful one, a prophet", opening a unit that continues with God raising him in 19:57.
All Qur'anic expressions